THE JEWISH MOB!

[Villain]

A lot of influential Jewish gangsters were in Chicago during the early days who even had some role in creating the modern day Outfit such as Max Guzik and his 3 sons Jake, Harry and Sam who lurked around the loop and south side and had close connections to Big Jim Colosimo and later to John Torrio while his sons later joined the Capone gang. Another instrumental Jewish faction at the time were the Vogel Bros Eddie and William who operated around Cicero and later Melrose Park. Another Jewish big shot was Joe Epstein from the Lawndale area and close associate of the Guziks, who brought Virginia Hill into the game and later was also instrumental in bringing young Jewish blood such as the Patrick Bros Lenny, Jack and Mike, and also the Yaras Bros Sam and Dave. Also Sam Yaras later operated in Dallas together with another Jewish hoodlum known as Jack Ruby. There were many others since i pulled these out from the top of my head

[maxiestern11]

A lot of influential Jewish gangsters were in Chicago during the early days who even had some role in creating the modern day Outfit such as Max Guzik and his 3 sons Jake, Harry and Sam who lurked around the loop and south side and had close connections to Big Jim Colosimo and later to John Torrio while his sons later joined the Capone gang. Another instrumental Jewish faction at the time were the Vogel Bros Eddie and William who operated around Cicero and later Melrose Park. Another Jewish big shot was Joe Epstein from the Lawndale area and close associate of the Guziks, who brought Virginia Hill into the game and later was also instrumental in bringing young Jewish blood such as the Patrick Bros Lenny, Jack and Mike, and also the Yaras Bros Sam and Dave. Also Sam Yaras later operated in Dallas together with another Jewish hoodlum known as Jack Ruby. There were many others since i pulled these out from the top of my head

Agreed, in just about all major cities Jews were very active and often at the top levels. Chicago especially

[maxiestern11]

Although much is always written about the so-called Mafia or Italian underworld, there was for many decades, a very strong significant Jewish presence in the underworld, both in NYC (the epicenter of mob activity) and throughout the nation. And although of course most everyone is familiar with the names of Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Dutch Schultz, there were many, many more lesser known but very powerful Jewish mobsters active from at least the early 1900’s through the 1980’s. Still today there is a little known Jewish contingent of mob figures active. These Jewish mobsters ran into the thousands. They worked in tandem, hand in hand, with their Italian counterparts. Italians and Jews always got along very well. And despite the stereotype of Jews as the “brains” and the Italians as the “brawn”, both ethnicities we’re equally smart and deadly as required. This thread attempts to expose this little known segment of the underworld, and the vast rackets and territory they controlled. Despite the information I will put forth here below, I am aware that my studies are but a “scratching of the surface” of their true influence and control within the mob. Whether it’s Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, California, New Jersey or a host of other cities, Jewish mobsters were very active throughout. But for the purposes of this story line, I will attempt to confine my dialogue to the New York City (and Florida) areas. Florida is included because of the near constant connection to NYC activity. Labor rackets of all stripes (garment district, airport freight, trucking, and many varied industries in NYC), casino gambling in Las Vegas and the Islands, and business infiltration, in addition to almost all varieties of street rackets; gambling, shylocking, narcotics, extortion, etc. “The Jewish Mob” lacked a formal structure like the “Roman legion” type design of the Italians, but did have an informal leadership of sorts, ranking certain Jews such as Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Lepke Buchalter as “bosses” per se.
The following list, although extensive, as I said before is just a scratching of the surface of the literally thousands of Jewish mobsters active during those eras. I have taken the liberty to mark an asterisk next to names that were clearly in a “Boss” of leadership position in their field i.e.; garment rackets, trucking, labor unions, bookmaking, etc.... keep in mind that Jewish hoods, in cooperation with the Italians were dominant powers in the gambling rackets (bookmaking, policy, dice).... loansharking on a fantastic scale, and narcotics smuggling and distribution (hence the term “schmeck”, a common nickname for heroin, is a derivation of a Yiddish word for smell I believe). Heavily concentrated rackets were on the lower east side where there was heavy Jewish population, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Miami, Florida.....among many other strongholds.

Meyer Lansky *
Jake Lansky
Arnold (The Brain) Rothstein *
Louis (Lepke) Buchalter*
Jacob (Gurrah) Shapiro
-garment district .............
Hyman (Red Hymie) Siegel*
Irving Mishel
Irving (Knadles) Nitzberg
Morris (Sheppie) Shapiro*
Tom Cutty
Philip (Farvel) Kovolick
Hyman (Nig Rosen) Stromberg*
Louis Stromberg
Abner (Longie) Zwillman *
(Fat Sidney) Brown
(Buster) Krakower
Samuel (Red) Levine
(Jewey) Stein
Moe Klemas
Abraham (Abe) Chait*
(Dutch) Goldberg
Joe Miller
Sam Berger
Joe Berger
Newman brothers
Benjamin (Benny) Levine
Abe Gordon
Harry (Little Lefty) Strasser
Sam Smith
Gabriel Klar
Paul (Red) Dorfman
Benjamin (Benny the Bug) Ross
Arthur (Lefty) Clark
Irving (Chink) Sherman
Teddy Ray
Samuel (Sammy Schlitz) Schlitten
Morris (Moishe) Schlitten
Larry (The Fixer) Knohl
Harry (Little Gangy) Davidoff
(Big Gangy) Davidoff
Sammy Goldstein
Sol (Pork Chop) Margolies
Joseph (Doc) Stracher*

In closing, note that it would be an almost impossible task to correlate all figures with their related rackets and influence. But suffice it to say that for upwards of eighty years, “Tough Jews” .... racketeers of every size and shape, heavily influenced the american underworld!

[Villain]

I remember one situation when I was writing my article on Jewish Chicago mobster Hyman Larner few years ago, that during the 1940's he joined Lansky's organization in sending cash and weapons to Israel. As a matter of fact, it seems that Larner later continued the same tradition even during the 70s and 80s by selling arms in different countries. In addition, Larner started his criminal career as collector for the Vogel bros and later ended up being a close associate of many NY Jewish mobsters, including Lansky as being one of his alleged mentors

[Villain]

In addition, it seems that during the old days the Jewish gangsters from the U.S. also had some type of secret national connection same as any other ethnicity which was closely connected with the Italian Mafia at the time. Like for example, Greek mob boss Gus Alex collected from all of the Greek handbook operators and loan sharks from around the Chicago area and maybe even further, but the thing is that the Italians and their organization was some sort of additional "bridge" for their national connections and also huge backing for their high authorities within the underworld